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Ali Almihdar brings to the Bar of England and Wales, much experience of legal practice in the Middle East. He splits his professional time equally between Saudi Arabia and London.

His work covers Sharia Law, Middle East Arab Law and the full spectrum of commercial legal practice from advice to drafting, arbitrations to advocacy. He has offered Saudi legal advice and services over a wide range of subjects including advising clients in negotiation of contracts, formation of Saudi Companies, foreign capital investment licences for temporary or continuing commercial activities in the Kingdom, shipping, intellectual property matters, agency and distributorship, Sharia finance, construction projects, arbitration, litigation before courts and tribunals, labour law matters, private client, succession and general Saudi corporate legal advice.

Being equally comfortable working in either English or Arabic, Ali is well positioned to represent clients in the English and Saudi courts and Official Circles and in any other jurisdiction where his dual qualifications will gain him rights of audience. He is also the holder of an official Saudi Translation Licence: Arabic to English and English to Arabic.

Ali is frequently invited to lecture on his areas of specialism, both in the UK and abroad. He has lectured in London at SOAS, London University on, “The Means of Proof in the Sharia System of Law” and at the Saudi – British Society, Cambridge University and the Arab -British Chambers of Commerce, where he has drawn comparisons between certain aspects of the Sharia and the Common Law.

He spoke at a Bribery and Corruption Seminar in partnership with Bedell Cristin in Jersey, “Placing the 2010 Bribery Act into the global context with particular emphasis on existing legislation in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East”.

In Dubai Ali has spoken on panel discussions including one held in 2014 at Hadef & Partners, chaired by Andrew Spink QC on: “Aspects of the fairly new Arbitration Law in Saudi Arabia and the brand new Commercial Arbitration Centre” and on the “Rules of Evidence in Islamic Law”.

He participated at C5’s inaugural conference on Fraud, Asset Tracing and Recovery in the Gulf, talking on “Tracing Assets in Saudi Arabia”, then at C5’s 2nd Annual Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery in the Gulf Conference, presenting “Dealing with Fraud Under the Common Law and Sharia Systems: A Comparative View”.

At the International Bar Association’s 2nd Biennial Conference on Islamic Banking and Financial Law he spoke on “The Applicability of Sharia Principles in Legal Practice”.

Ali was educated in law at Churchill College, Cambridge (MA & LLM), his legal career started as Legal Adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and then expanded (through Almihdar Law Firm (ALF) established in Jeddah, 1976), to handling work for that Ministry and many other corporate and private clients from around the world including the UK, the USA and Western Europe. He holds a PhD in “Good Faith in Contracts” from Alexandria University.

He was the Honorary Legal Adviser to the British Consulate in Jeddah from 1998 to 2010.

Sheikh Abdulaziz al Turki has, for the first time (in February 2016), awarded a Saudi National Dr Ali Almihdar, the Al Rawabi Holding Awards. This is an annual award which is presented to two individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to furthering Saudi – British relations by the Saudi British Society.

Publications

The International Perspective – Middle East Chapter in “Lissack and Horlick on Bribery” (2nd edition, 2014, LexisNexis)